Hanna Tseng (00:02):
So, hi everyone. My name is Hanna. Yeah, I’ve known Natalie since, I guess my freshman year of college, which was seven years ago. It’s been a while, but I now work at a synthetic biology company called Ginkgo Bioworks that’s located in the Seaport district of Boston. We are a rapidly growing company focused on making synthetic biology easier and introducing our synthetically produced organisms and byproducts to other companies across the world. My particular role in Ginkgo is to work as part of their digital technology department. So in order to support all of our really great scientists to do all the synthetic biology we build a lot of internal pieces of software that allow them to do their work. I started my career as a product manager, so I helped look at the overall problem space, identify what needs our software wasn’t meeting, so, what did the scientists want our software to do that we we couldn’t do right now, and how do we make it, how do we build our software so that it better suits the ever-evolving needs of our scientists?
Hanna Tseng (01:30):
And now this past year I switched over to the product design team, so I get to help actually shape what that software looks like, feels like, you know, like the order in which you click the buttons and where they, where you click them. It actually is really important to be like, get things in the right order so that it makes sense. And it’s not something that you notice on a day to day basis when you’re interacting with websites because all these product designers have done it so well that you don’t even notice. But like, when you get a really uninformed error message of, “Oops, something went wrong,” that’s when you noticed that.
Natalie Kuldell (02:05):
It’s true. You only notice things when they’ve gone wrong as opposed to going super smoothly. So yeah. So you are doing your job when nobody is thinking about you, right?
Hanna Tseng (02:16):
Yeah. And it’s like, yeah, “oops, something went wrong.” Like, what went wrong? How do I fix it?
Natalie Kuldell (02:22):
So it’s so interesting because based on what you said, it might seem like your background would be computer science or business if you’re developing new products. Are those the pathways you took to get to the job that you’re in?
Hanna Tseng (02:42):
Honestly, I think my lowest grade in college was my one coding class. So I would say that coding is definitely not my strong suit. I actually majored in biological engineering, which is something that Natalie has been teaching you very well, um so even though I may not have that software, computer science background, and I’m working on software, I’m building software for people who do biological engineering, do synthetic biology, and having that knowledge at the back of my head allows me to make better decisions and build better software so that they can use it because I’ve been in their shoes, I know what,what it’s like and what is more difficult and what are like the typical experiments that,biologists or synthetic biologists may run and how,our software may not align with it.
Natalie Kuldell (03:38):
Yeah. I, it’s, it’s so wonderful to have you fluent in all of these languages. And one of my most joyful teaching experiences recently is teaching the digital technology team at Ginkgo because a lot of them don’t have your background in biology or biological engineering. A lot of them haven’t touched biology in school since like ninth grade when they dissected a frog. So, you know, for, for creating software that is in support of biological engineering and synthetic biology, your, your ability to speak all those languages is so valuable and, and I’m sure makes you really good at your job.
Hanna Tseng (04:18):
I would, I, I, I hope so.
Natalie Kuldell (04:20):
Yes.
Hanna Tseng (04:21):
Definitely. Any skills that you, you may feel that you don’t have right now or you may not have when you join your job. Like, there’s so many things that like you learn on the job. So even though I’m building software, honestly, I couldn’t tell you what an API was when I first started. Whereas now, like I was reflecting in one of my meetings the other day, I’m like, Wow, I don’t think I understood the definitions of over half these terms that were just tossing out in this meeting. That now is like second nature to me of like, Oh, we need like XYZ to build this, and I understand what those words are now, but that’s, I learned it on the job. It was really great. I was able to learn it on the job.
Natalie Kuldell (05:04):
What a, what a nice situation to be in that you have a career where you can continue to learn and continue to grow. I think that that’s something we all wish for. Right?
Hanna Tseng (05:14):
I’m very lucky.
Natalie Kuldell (05:15):
We’re not guaranteed a job we love where we can keep learning and growing. So it’s so great that, that you have landed in one and, and Ginkgo is such a wonderful company to be doing that in. And so so let’s see. So we do know each other from your days as an undergraduate. You and I were at MIT at the time and you very happily came through to help support one of the BioBuilder programs that we run to help get high school students ready to work in labs. That’s our apprenticeship program. So I remember so fondly having you help BioBuilder grow and develop that program and teach those, those students. So in addition to software and biology do you have an interest in teaching and, and outreach?
Hanna Tseng (06:09):
Yeah. actually I spend a lot of my free time outside of work as a volunteer cheer coach at MIT. So when I was there I was on the club sports cheerleading team for all four years. Didn’t know anything about cheerleading before then, but learned everything there. I love learning on the spot, apparently. But now one of my, the coach that I had decided to step down from that position and I was an alumni in the area and I stepped up and am now one of the assistant coaches for the team. So it’s a lot of me learning how to teach someone a brand new sport while being safe, but just teaching and being a mentor to college students in general.
Natalie Kuldell (07:06):
Yeah. Well, turning around and helping the next folks in line is, is, is a wonderful thing. And I’m so glad you’re doing that and I’m sure the students love it. So boy, so I’m almost afraid to ask given how, how many pivots you’ve done and how windy your, your career path has been, but in high school since a lot of the folks who watch these conversations are in high school, did, did you know what you wanted to do? Did you know where you wanted to be? Did you come from a family of, of bioengineers or software coders or, or cheer coaches?
Hanna Tseng (07:42):
No, I, I came from a family that majored in something but did something else.
Natalie Kuldell (07:47):
Yeah.
Hanna Tseng (07:49):
Growing up, my dad majored in mechanical engineering in college, but then pivoted to becoming a wedding photographer for his career. So we, we like using our backgrounds in unconventional ways.
Natalie Kuldell (08:06):
Yes. I think that’s such a great thing. Wow. That’s great.
Hanna Tseng (08:10):
Yeah. In high school I had the, the really great opportunity to take this summer course at U Chicago that was biotechnology of the 21st century between my junior and my senior year. And so that was more of like a lecture-style class with a lab component in the afternoon. Very similar to actually what we did, what we taught high schoolers and BioBuilder, except there was an intensive summer program all crammed into like one into three weeks. And that introduced me to a lot of like synthetic biology and how and what role biology can play in different parts of our ecosystem and our economy. Like like how antibiotics have become a huge part of the, of medicine. Like that was just an accidental biology experiment. But also like how we can bioengineer crops to be more nutritious or be able to grow in harsher environments.
Hanna Tseng (09:18):
And that class sort of introduced me to that like synthetic biology world. I’m like, Wow, that seems really interesting. That is something that I would like to pursue in college. So the fact that all these, all these kids, all you guys are taking this BioBuilder class is really, really great. Because even if you decide in college, like, I’m not interested in this path, I’m not gonna go down it, it is a door that you did open and you were able to say concretely, yes, I’ve learned about it. I’m not interested. Instead of always being like a oh, what if, what if? Yeah. But if I never do. So it’s really, really great and everything you learn can be applied in my windy way. No matter what you learn, can be applied in a different context. So yeah.
Natalie Kuldell (10:06):
I, I think we, we all become citizens of, of this planet and in this world. So, you know, even as you say, if students don’t decide to become bioengineers, and, and most will not and most should not probably, you know, we don’t need everybody to be a biological engineer, but everybody will be a citizen of this world and, and have life science and engineering of life science as part of their existence. So yeah, I think having direct experience with it is well, obviously I think it’s important because I spend my days trying to do that. Right.
Hanna Tseng (10:42):
And they know GMOs are good,
Natalie Kuldell (10:44):
Right. Exactly. I heart GMOs for sure. So I, I think it’s just fabulous and I am so excited to see all of the things that you guys will do. Maybe you’ll come down and, and help teach my class to the digital technologists at Ginkgo. That would be very helpful.
Hanna Tseng (11:03):
I, I’ve been wanting to teach bio. I’ve been wanting to take bio 101, but I can’t have an excuse like, oh, like signups are for the class. And I’m like, I wanna do it. They’re like, “Hanna, you’ve already done this. You’ve actually, done this.”
Natalie Kuldell (11:18):
You’ve already had her as a teacher. You can’t have her again.
Hanna Tseng (11:23):
So if you need me to assist and pipette something
Natalie Kuldell (11:28):
Right.
Hanna Tseng (11:29):
Well let’s, well maybe my meeting schedule might not allow it, but.
Natalie Kuldell (11:33):
Right. Well you’re on. I’m sure
Hanna Tseng (11:34):
If I can., I would love to come down and pipette something.
Natalie Kuldell (11:37):
That would be fun. Our lab is always open for you. You’re awesome. Thank you so much.
Hanna Tseng (11:42):
Thanks